Landscape systems as dynamic equilibria, human activity and change over time, and the management of coastal and upland landscapes.

What this dot point is asking

WJEC wants you to treat coastal and glaciated landscapes as systems in dynamic equilibrium, explain how human activity disturbs that balance over time, and evaluate the strategies used to manage these landscapes, with located examples.

The answer

Landscapes as dynamic systems

Coastal and glaciated landscapes are open systems. When a disturbance (a storm, sediment loss, a new sea wall) shifts the balance, negative feedback tends to restore equilibrium, for example a beach drawing down in a storm then rebuilding as constructive waves return sediment. Positive feedback amplifies the change instead, for example cliff retreat exposing more weak rock to erosion, which accelerates further retreat. Understanding which feedback dominates is the key to judging whether a landscape will recover or continue changing.

Human activity and change over time

Human pressures alter sediment supply and process rates. Coastal dredging and dam-building cut sediment to beaches; tourism and trampling degrade dunes and footpaths; farming and afforestation change upland runoff and slope stability. Over time, climate change raises sea level (projected $0.5$ to $1$ m or more by 2100) and storminess, so eroding and low-lying coasts such as Borth and Fairbourne in mid and north Wales face growing risk. The Holderness coast in Yorkshire, retreating at roughly $2$ m per year on weak boulder clay, shows how quickly a disturbed system can change.

Managing coastal landscapes

Hard engineering resists the sea: sea walls reflect wave energy, groynes trap longshore drift to widen beaches, rock armour (riprap) and gabions absorb energy. It is effective but expensive (a sea wall can cost several thousand pounds per metre), visually intrusive and can fail or shift problems downdrift. Soft engineering works with nature: beach nourishment replaces sediment, managed realignment lets the sea flood low land to create salt marsh, and dune stabilisation plants marram grass. It is cheaper and more sustainable but slower and less certain in the short term.

Shoreline management and sustainability

A shoreline management plan (SMP) decides policy for each coastal unit: hold the line, advance the line, managed realignment (strategic retreat) or no active intervention. The choice weighs the value of land, cost-benefit, and knock-on effects. At Fairbourne in Gwynedd, the long-term SMP controversially points towards eventual decommissioning of the village from around 2054 as defence becomes unaffordable against rising seas, making it a leading UK example of planned coastal retreat and the social conflict it creates.

Examples in context

Example 1. Planned retreat at Fairbourne, Gwynedd. Fairbourne is a low-lying village of around $450$ homes on the Mawddach estuary, protected by a sea wall and embankment. Because the village sits barely above sea level, the Gwynedd shoreline management plan judges that defending it indefinitely against rising seas is not viable, and proposes decommissioning from around 2054, relocating residents and returning the land to the estuary. The case shows the human and political dimension of coastal management: residents face blighted house values and uncertainty, while planners weigh the cost of defence against the value of the land. It is the clearest Welsh example of managed retreat in practice.

Example 2. Soft engineering and dune management on the Welsh coast. At Ynyslas and along Cardigan Bay, dune stabilisation uses marram-grass planting, fencing and boardwalks to fix mobile sand and reduce trampling damage from tourism, working with natural processes rather than against them. Beach nourishment has been used on several Welsh and English resort frontages to widen beaches that absorb wave energy and protect the coast behind. These soft approaches are cheaper and more sustainable than sea walls, conserve the natural landscape and habitat, but require ongoing maintenance and give less certain protection during severe storms, illustrating the trade-off examiners expect you to evaluate.

Try this

Q1. Define dynamic equilibrium. [2 marks]

• Cue. A balanced system state where inputs and outputs of energy and matter are roughly equal over time.

Q2. Explain one disadvantage of using groynes to manage a coastline. [3 marks]

• Cue. Groynes trap longshore drift to build the local beach, but starve the next stretch of sediment, increasing erosion downdrift.